Nona then sat down again as if the entire subject were closed forever.
So, although the other girls had dozens of questions at the tips of their tongues, they remained politely silent.
In order to conceal her embarrassment Mildred Thornton glanced around to try to find Eugenia. She discovered that the older girl had at last been disturbed from her reverie. Indeed, she had risen and was walking toward the road. For a noise with which they had grown familiar in the past fifteen months was drawing nearer and nearer. It was the tramping of soldiers' feet.
But this time there was a sound accompanying it which was even more disturbing.
The other girls heard the same sound and almost at the same time jumped up from their seats. They went a few paces forward and then stopped and stared.
A number of German soldiers were driving a group of Belgian people before them like so many sheep. There were two old men and two middle-aged women with several small children.
Running further forward, Barbara slipped her arm inside Eugenia's.
"What does this mean?" she queried, her eyes suddenly blurring with tears.
Yet she realized that the prisoners had probably been disloyal to their conquerors. They may have refused to obey the rules imposed by the German military commander of their district; they may have stolen food, or been insolent to the soldiers.
Although she appreciated their possible offences, Barbara felt deeply sympathetic.